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More than 2M pounds of aid given to Georgia

Air Force cargo planes, a Navy destroyer and a Coast Guard cutter have brought more than 2 million pounds of humanitarian aid worth more than $21 million to Georgia thus far, officials said.

Operation Assured Delivery — as it’s now called — has shipped in food, water, bedding and medical supplies to about 160 nongovernmental associations whose workers have distributed the aid across the country ravaged by fighting between Russian and Georgian troops.

More than 55 sorties have been flown since Aug. 13 by C-17 Globemasters, C-130 Hercules, Navy C-9 Skytrains and C-40 Clippers from Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to Tbilisi International Airport. About two flights are flown daily, officials said.

The destroyer McFaul arrived on Aug. 24, and the cutter Dallas arrived on Aug. 27 to Georgian ports loaded with 231,000 pounds of supplies packed onto pallets. The command ship Mount Whitney is scheduled to deploy for Georgia at the end of the month.

“The USAID-funded feeding programs are taking care of those people who are on the move and headed back to their homes,” said Michael Ritchie, European Command’s director of interagency engagement in a teleconference with reporters.

A joint service assessment team from EuCom of about 25 troops has worked directly with the Georgian government to decide what is shipped over, said Lt. Cmdr. John Gay, a EuCom spokesman said.

“I think the initial life support needs are being taken care of. Now it’s about getting in needs for sustainment like housing,” he said.

Gay said he’s noticed the traffic and commerce within Tbilisi as the country continues to rebuild. However, there is no timetable on how long the aid shipments will continue.

“We’ll keep them going as long as we are needed,” he said.